Live from eWorld

3 comments September 27th, 2007 Sean Delaney - Iasta UK

Well, it’s amazing how quickly the eWorld conference comes around. This time there has been a seismic shift in the market. Not only has the number of vendors shrunk (4 less than in February) there has now become a more definitive split between technology and service providers.

The purchase of Procuri by Ariba has given buyers far less choice in the market and that has been reflected in the number and quality of vendors offering eSourcing solutions. This may be disappointing to some users but at least it has given the market far more clarity.

Colonel Tim Collins lunchtime keynote was over subscribed (famous for his speech given to troops on the eve of the 2nd Iraq conflict). Life & Death Procurement: Leadership on the Corporate Battlefield was noted as a highlight of the day by many of the delegates.

I suppose going to war needs to be simple but even more important is that you need to be right first time. The Colonel listed 6 key areas which in his view were essential for survival in the corporate procurement. I think these have direct relevance with many successful implementations I have seen of eSourcing and worthy of note:

• Get your priorities right - know why you exist
• Get organisation right
• Get the right people into the organisation
• Get the right spirit in the organisation
• Get your instructions on the day to day right
• Let them the get on with it.

Now we have seen these expressed in many different ways in the past but the fact that the Colonel articulated them in the framework of war gave the message added resonance.

However, I would add there remains one fundamental difference that within a war zone the incentives to get it right are obvious. Whilst in a corporate environment there are both personal and corporate objectives at play. In order to be successful these need to be aligned and require further incentives to be put in place i.e. remuneration aligned to corporate procurement goals.

On a final note, it was great to see Aberdeen here for the first time and certainly the feedback was extremely positive. Their opening keynote was a great way to set the scene for the rest of the day.

Entry Filed under: Supply Management Best Practices, Technology, e-Sourcing Marketplace